Meeting minutes for 2/02/4

By Murray Carr
February 3 2004

Minutes of Airdrie United Supporters Society This quarterly meeting was held in Airdrie Workingmans Club on Monday 2nd February.

Many thanks to Murray Carr for providing the following minutes.

Veronica opened the meeting and explained that members of the Airdrie United FC Board would join us later to answer questions.

A financial statement was issued and Bobby Reid (Treasurer) explained aspects of this. The appeal for funds to assist the AU board in strengthening the playing staff had been disappointing. Supporters were asked to contribute £5 and while many contributed more, some up to £50, the overall sun raised was only £805. The Trust had pledged to contribute 3 payments of £1250 which meant we were well short of our target. However some people had paid by cheque to the Supporters Society PO box and had stated that these cheques had not been cashed. After investigation it was discovered that the Post Office had made an error and mixed up PO boxes. When this was resolved we discovered that cheques to the value of £540 had been received unbeknown to us. This increased the overall figure but we still required to raise a significant sum from our other activities. Bobby expressed disappointment that it appeared the same people were contributing time and time again whilst others only attended the games. On this question of apathy it appears that a main reason for some supporters not joining the Trust was the belief that there was no need as the club was now safe. Veronica pointed out that there was no way to tell what the future might hold and we should all be trying to encourage as many supporters as possible to become Trust members.
The current balance of Trust funds stood at £835 with the first payment in support of the team having been paid.

Veronica stated that plans were underway for the Airdrie and Coatbridge Schools Cup and more details would be available shortly. There was a provisional date for the final (to be played at new Broomfield) of Sunday 16th May.

The Christmas party held in the stadium had been a great success and the players were thanked for their attendance and allowing themselves to be 'wrapped up'. Over 100 children had attended.

The Trust membership currently stands at around 500 and while this is one of the highest ratios in Scottish football it would be great to see the number increase.
Mark Allison, a member of the Trust Board, had recently moved to England leaving a vacancy. Anyone interested in filling this position should contact Veronica.

A 70s night will be held in the Stadium on Friday 13th February. This included a live band, buffet and disco and tickets were still available priced at £10. If interested contact any member of the Trust Board.

This concluded the business part of the meeting and we welcomed John and Rose Ballantyne, Jim Ballantyne, Ann Marie Ballantyne and Gavin Speirs.

Jim offered to take questions and the main points follow.

A stadium agreement had been signed between the football club and Excelsior Stadium Ltd (formerly Dudley). Dudley have still to sign a deal with NLC. Jim was delighted with the deal and while many details could not be released just yet he did confirm a few points. A mechanism has been built into the deal which allows for any necessary improvements (such as undersoil heating) to be made if necessary to allow the football club to progress. The financing of any such improvements will be the responsibility of the Stadium company. Neither the Stadium company nor the football club have any responsibility for developing the surrounding land. This will be carried out by the Council using the money they make from the sale of the stadium. There were no plans to build new dressing rooms nor to move the home fans to the opposite stand. The club has a good arrangement with the Council (presumably South Lanarkshire in this instance) to train in Strathclyde Park. The club has its own goals etc which are stored in the park. The football club makes money from hospitality, programme sales, shop sales and advertising boards. The Stadium Company makes money from the bar, refreshment stalls and car parking. Jim stressed that both the club and the Stadium Company saw this as a partnership and fans were encouraged to make use of all stadium facilities.
The question of the tannoy system was raised again and it is believed that there are 2 systems, one from the police box and the other the main system. It appears that the police system works perfectly and this is the system which would be used in the event of a fire or other emergency. However investigations would be made to discover if the announcement system can be linked to the police system.

A number of questions were asked regarding the playing side. Although this was exclusively the domain of Sandy Stewart Jim did make his own feelings known. He was unhappy at the performances of late and explained that steps were being taken to rectify the situation. The signings of Owen Coyle, Kevin Christie and Paul Lovering should strengthen areas the manager had identified. The full squad had been made to watch a video nasty of the Arbroath game and a frank discussion had been held to analyse the failings after this very disappointing result. However moral was still high and it is hoped that now we have strengthened the squad and are getting players back from injury things will improve. The feeling was that a promotion place was still a possibility.

Whatever the outcome of this season the club had no plans to move from full time football.

The Hamilton game had been scheduled for March 2nd but there are no dates for the Morton or Berwick games. It is up to the home club to offer dates for postponed games although it was felt the Berwick game might be scheduled quite soon.

Players from Airdrie United were now becoming more involved with youth teams in the area.

The recent Advertiser article regarding the cost of Airdrie United hospitality had been rubbish. The figures they had quoted were wrong and the paper had been so informed.

The complaint regarding an article appearing in a recent Morton programme was now lodged with the SFA. Jim explained that any comments appearing in print making any form of connection between the club and any Nazi type behaviour would be challenged vigorously.

Ann Marie explained that although the season ticket sales were slightly down on last season this was due mainly to people who had bought a ticket previously as much as a donation to the club as anything. Tickets had been sold as far afield as America in our first season as a new club. Plans had been made to contact previously ticket holders who did not renew their season but had not been implemented due to pressure of work with things such as the Cup. However it was planned that efforts would be made in the future to encourage as many as possible to renew their season ticket.

The transfer of Paul Ronald had not involved any money. In fact Jim stated no money was likely to be involved in any transfers between clubs in our division. He paid tribute to Paul's commitment and stated that he had moved as Dumbarton had offered him a longer term deal than Airdrie could.

Lee Gardner was still looking for a club and Darren Miller had moved on loan to East Stirling to gain first team experience. The loan player arrangements meant that clubs were allowed one over 21 and two under 21 players. The transfer window applied to loan deals in the same way as it did to transfers. The fact that Lee has been released allows him to sign at any time for a club outwith the transfer window.

On the financial side Jim explained that the club would continue to pursue a non borrowing policy and at the present time we do not owe anything to any bank.

The Trust was thanked for our help in paying for Owen Coyle.

The meeting closed.